The Riddle of Dust
by Badpenny232
Summary: Daemons are interesting things to begin with. Not that Thorin would have thought twice about having a Daemon. In Middle Earth every race had there own form of Daemon. However a great evil is poisoning the daemons of the Eriador, mutilating them and transforming them with necromancy. The Company's Quest to Ered Luin holds to the key that could save all the innocent souls of theShire
1. Daemons

Crossover with Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy and Tolkien's the Hobbit. Non-canon.

* * *

In the great land of the east rests a lonely mountain, strong and standing defiant against the sky. Its people grew powerful and wealthier than anyone could have imagined. The Age of the dwarf was a time of peace, a hard won peace that had been fought by Erebor's king – Thror, King Under the Mountain and his eldest son Thrain Crown Prince to the throne. The greatest dwarf kingdom in Middle Earth was truly blessed, for not only was Thrain's bloodline secure in his son and grandson but also when other calamites had befallen their kin, Erebor alone stood untouched and untainted by evil.

Not even the great dragon Smuag had dared attack the mountain, instead favouring to pillage the dark lands of Mordor instead. And for that, I think we should be all thankful.

But as it has been said in the past, one is not born into greatness, greatness must be earned. These words cursed Thorin Durinson since the moment of his birth. His heart sought the acceptance and the respect of his father and forefathers that had pathed the way for this age of peace and plenty, the young dwarf wanted adventure and the opportunity to prove himself worthy of his blood line.

Thorin would sit for long hours at night thinking of dragons and trolls, wishing with all his heart that he too would one day prove himself a hero.

"Be careful what you wish for," Lifthrasir chided gently, curling her spotted fluffy tail around his neck in affection.

Daemons. Daemons are interesting things to begin with. Not that Thorin would think twice about having a daemon. For anyone of you who don't know, or for any of you who need reminding; daemons are souls, a person's soul embodied in animal form from birth and with them till the moment of death when the animal disappears into an ill formed cloud of golden dust that blows away on the wind. No one knows why, or even how daemons come to exist but they do, and that is where our story starts.

You should probably know that when a child is born with a daemon said daemon will change form at will until it settles. In Thorin's case, one moment Lifthrasir would be a spotted mountain snow leopard- _Uncia uncia-_ and the next she would choose to be a black Ibex- _Capra ibex-_ or any other animal she felt like choosing. Maturity, depending on race and culture etc, came at different ages; for dwarves it was 65, where as for Hobbits it was 33. But the curious thing is all races shared one common trait when coming of age: your daemon must have settled form.

Settling form is a tricky business. One form forever was a like picking a pair of shoes to wear for the rest of your life when you've been used to flip flops. But more importantly, the shared soul of the daemon and their barer must find someone {outside of their family of course} to love unconditionally. A settling love, or as its more clandestine name- "One Touch" was what was needed to settle ones daemon. The shared feelings of owner and daemon that their "One Touch" could be trusted with the most sacred and most taboo of acts- Touching someone else's daemon and being touched in return in a bonding act of love.

And that is where the problem lied for Thorin. He had never found his love and had never looked for it, it was the thought of it; the unspeakable act of touching some else's daemon, having someone touch his heart… it went against the most basic unspoken rule there was in Middle Earth: it was like breathing; inhale, exhale, don't touch someone else's daemon.

He didn't care that Lifthrasir could be a raven one minute and an ibex the next; if she was happy that meant he was happy and at the moment in time, he was content staying just the two of them; but it seemed the rest of the world had a different idea entirely.

"You are not an adult! How can I in my right mind let you go wandering off into Aüle knows what danger? No, Thorin, the answer is no." Thrain, Thorin's father, bellowed; as he paced the large ornate sitting room and stood near the mantelpiece to glower over his silver goblet. Icarni, Thrain's peacock daemon- _Inachis io_ , spread her glorious turquoise tale and shook out her feathers in warning to Thorin's daemon. Lifthrasir bowed her head and in a leap, turned from ibex to raven, and landed gently on Thorin's shoulder.

"I am 65! I am an adult, Dis and Orion were running down Rohan when she was only 35," Thorin protested weakly, desperate to appeal to his father's better judgment and sense of fair play.

It had nothing to do with his age or his skill in arms, it was down to one fact and one alone: without his daemon settling Thorin was still classed as a child.

Thorin had watched from afar as his sister and spaniel daemon had trailed after her One Touch. She had followed the young dwarf, who belonged to a group of travelling merchants, all the way to the borders of Gondor before she caught up with him.

Thrain let out a long tired sigh that only a parent can make. "Your sister found her settling love very young. Her actions were justified, if rather rash," Thrain acknowledge in a tired voice and finished the wine in his goblet in one long gulp, before setting it down on the top of the fireplace and fixing Thorin with the famous Durin stare. Icarni lowered her feathers and swiping them across the stone floor, fixed Lifthrasir with an unsettling avian glare. "Thorin, give it time. You too will go and have adventures of your own, just wait until Lifthrasir has settled."

Before Thorin could even argue, Thrain was striding out the door with Icarni leading the way with her beak pointed haughtily in the air.

Lifthrasir fluttered off Thorin's shoulder and in a faint flicker of gold light, settled as an ibex at his feet. Thorin fell heavily into one of the deep sofas and they both watched the empty doorway unhappily.

"I don't want to find our settling love," Lifthrasir whispered quietly and stroking the side of Thorin's knee with her horns. Absently, Thorin touched the soft tuft of black fur between her ears.

"Me either Lif, he can't force us. We're happy like this so we'll stay like this," Thorin said fiercely, his dark eyebrows furrowing and his bearded jaw set. If they didn't want to settle, they wouldn't settle, no matter how many Dwarven royalty their father would set before him. But a little part of his mind did wonder, wonder about the feel and the closeness and the heat... And what it was like to touch?

No, he wouldn't find his one. He knew it even if his father didn't.

It was on Thorin's 106 birthday that Thrain and Thror finally gave Thorin and Lifthrasir what they craved most.

Adventure!

"Thorin! Come in my boy," Thror called warmly, sending echoes around the map room as Thorin and Lifthrasir teetered on the edge of the doorway.

The message had arrived early that morning via one of the Royal House Guard.

 _Council room, 6o'clock – Thror._

Walking to his Grandfather's side, the two Durin's looked down at a large map of Middle Earth drawn with rich green and red inks and inlaid on thick yellow parchment. Thror's woodpecker daemon Salix, sat atop the curtain rail looking down at them. Lifthrasir shifted into her snow leopard form and stood on her back legs, looking over the top of the table.

"This is Ered Luin," Thror said as he pointed to a set of mountain ranges to the far west.

"The Blue Mountains," Lifthrasir breathed reverently under her breath.

"Indeed, my girl, the Blue Mountains. So named for its blue opals but that is not what I want to discuss with you. Once a great and powerful kingdom…" Thror's voice turned suddenly from warm and welcome to chillingly severe in a matter of seconds. The old dwarf turned and took Thorin's shoulders in hand, fixing him with an icy blue stare. "This matter is grave. I trust that I do not need to mention the need for discretion."

"You have our word my lord," Lifthrasir swore fiercely and Thorin nodded, clapping his hands over his grandfather's.

"Very well, listen and listen close, for if all goes well; you shall be as great as a hero of old."


	2. Alethiometer

Here we go again. This chapter is really the true beginning of the story with special reference to His Dark Materials. Please review and tell me what you think. -BADPENNY

*0*

Something soft brushed and tickled under his chin: fluffy, soft and warm, it flicked up the side of his cheek, around his eyebrow and back down.

"Bilbo...Bilbo, its morning, the sun is shining and we are hungry," A singsong voice chimed in his ear.

Indeed the sun was shining, shining right through Bilbo's canary yellow curtains and down onto the embroidered throw that covered the bottom of his bed. Birdsong trickled in through the slightly ajar window and a cool morning breeze, still holding a chill from the night, wafted the curtains.

All was still. All was quite in the bedroom of Bilbo's smial, but he knew that once he stepped out the door his day would begin, and at that moment; as he tried to sort through the addled confusion of his sleep filled mind, Bilbo wasn't fully prepared to deal with that.

"Five more minutes Sting, I promise, five more minutes," Bilbo mumbled softly, as he rolled over on to his belly and pressed his face into the cool softness of the adjacent pillow.

Sting, still in the form of a ginger tomcat, hopped on top of Bilbo's shoulders and starting pawing Bilbo's curly hair. "That's what you said ten minutes ago! The longer you leave it, the harder it will be to clean." Sting declared matter-of-factly, using his long tufty tail to tickle the sensitive pointed tips of Bilbo's ears.

Bilbo had just turned 36. On its own 36 was not an important number, not even to the Tooks. No, 36 was a normal birthday like any other normal birthday; or would have been to anyone apart from Bilbo Baggins.

For you see dear reader, Bilbo Baggins was not an ordinary Hobbit. Certainly not, for not only being a Took-Baggins, but he had a problem; the problem being that his daemon had not settled: not even a little bit.

Hobbits are a quiet and illusive people, they value food and comfort and good friends. They grow the best pipe-weed in Middle Earth and are famous for their splendid parties and hospitality. You may have already have known that, but I bet you didn't know that all Hobbits- no matter rich or poor, gentle or common- are excepted to settle young and have dozens and dozens of Hobbitlings.

Hamfast Gamgee is a prime example of a perfect Hobbit. He loves gardening and food and more importantly, his daemon settled into the form of a large pig when he was still a tween after he met his future wife and Settling Love for the very first time.

That's the thing you see, its fine to have reached the age of 32 without settling, for from that moment onwards people expect the happy news imminently. But now at the age of 36, Bilbo was alone, constantly plagued by well meaning relatives and unable to be classed as an adult: which in its self was infuriating.

Oh, and coupled with the fact that Bilbo's daemon male instead of female, by Hobbit standards Bilbo Baggins had officially been named as odd.

And that was precisely the reason why his family, extended or otherwise, decide to darken his doorway every year and wait with baited breath to hear of his settling. And every year, they drowned their disappoint with his best wine and emptied his larder, filling his sink with pots and leaving him to do all the cleaning up.

Although it did have to be said that Bilbo's larder was so large and so well stocked that it would take a pack of hungry dwarves to properly empty, and Bilbo doubted he was been seen any of those in the Shire.

Bilbo stood with sleepy eyes at the sink full of bubbles, still in his pyjamas with Sting picking crumbs up off the floor, when there is a rather loud and rather rude knock at the front door.

"It's a Sunday," Sting said thoughtfully, as he hopped up onto the kitchen table in the form of a rabbit.

"Indeed it is," Bilbo thought out loud as he pulled his best dressing gown off the back a chair. But Sting was quite right, it was a Sunday: which in the Shire meant two things. Firstly, there was no post on Sundays. And secondly, no one, not even a Took, would go visiting so early on a Sunday morning.

A knock came again, this time louder, ruder and more urgent.

"Well, I never!" Bilbo grumbled peevishly as he stomped towards the front door, glancing at the hallway clock as he did so. Sting flew behind him in the form of a robin and landed lightly on his shoulder as he yanked open the door.

 _9:30. 9:30 on a Sunday morning! Really, this is most unnatural! I may not have settled but I am a grown Hobbit and I don't need to be mooli..._

Bilbo's train of thought died as he stared, open mouthed and gawking at the figure stood in the doorway. It was a man. An actual Big Person, standing nearly doubled over on his front porch, wearing bedraggled travel clothing and very discourteous expression. His dark hair hung down by his unshaved jaw and his squinty eyes peered down at Bilbo as if he had just said something rude about his mother.

"Can I help you?" Sting piped up quickly when Bilbo's own voice deserted him. The man eyed Sting with surprise. It was rather uncommon for a daemon to talk to a human they didn't know but then again Bilbo was still recovering from shock. The stranger's black rat daemon darted out of his tattered clothing and brushed a lank lock of black hair back to whisper something in her human's ear.

Self-consciously, Bilbo tugged at the rope of his dressing gown and shuffled his hairy feet.

"You Baggins?" The man asked gruffly, his voice thick and raspy, sounding more like a rack over gravel.

Bilbo recovered himself when Sting dug his talons into Bilbo's shoulder. "Oh, Baggins...yes, Bilbo Baggins at you service. And who might you be?" He stammered, trying to sound polite as possible and failing miserably.

"That don' matter," the stranger snorted rudely and began digging through the layers of his dirty clothing. After much rummaging in his breeches, the stranger extracted a smallish package wrapped in grey rags and held it out to Bilbo. "This is for you."

"I don't want it," Bilbo retorted quickly, stepping back from the slightly moist looking package. The stranger stepped over the threshold, grabbed Bilbo's wrist and pushed the uncomfortably warm object into the Hobbit's hand.

"This was meant for you. Keep it hidden. Keep it safe and let no one know you have it." The stranger growled, squeezing Bilbo's wrist until he winced in pain and Sting sprang from his shoulder, transforming into a sheepdog and began barking furiously at the tall man.

Staring from Sting to Bilbo, the stranger's face transformed from ardent purpose to something that could only be named as dawning understanding. He let go of Bilbo's wrist and stepped back onto the garden path.

"Heed what I have said, Bilbo Baggins of the Shire. Good Mornin'" and with that, the stranger was gone. Leaping over Bilbo's fence and disappearing down the lane before you could say Sackville Baggins!

Bilbo stood for several moments too bewildered, too bemused and too scandalised by the meeting that he stared dumbstruck and speechless; staring off down to the lane, in the direction that the strange man walked before being able to move. After a few moments Sting tugged at the corner of his dressing gown and led Bilbo back to the kitchen and nudged him down into one of the wooden chairs by the table.

After darting off to shut the front door, Sting put his forepaw on Bilbo's knee and made a pining noise.

"Well... that was...what on Middle Earth?" Bilbo began to mumble under his breath, his strawberry blonde curls trembling with frustration and confusion. "Oi!" Bilbo cried out when Sting nipped his toes.

"What is it Bilbo?" Sting asked excitedly, poking the package with his nose and then quickly recoiling when he smelt it.

Bilbo stared down at the alien package, disgusted by the tattered cloth and the stains that covered the material. It was filthy, no gentle Hobbit would let such an object into their smial. His mother would have cried bloody murder and his father would have...

And that was how he made his mind up.

"It's nothing to do with us. The less we know about it that better!" Bilbo snapped, barging past Sting and stomping off into the spare bedroom to the storage box at the foot of the bed; tipping it on its head and emptying the maps, books and whatnots onto the floor, Bilbo hid the package and covered it over- not to be seen or looked at again.

Well. Not until later that afternoon anyway.

"But Bilbo it was for us! The man said it was ours!" Sting protested over and over again, flapping about any room that Bilbo tried to settle in. "Bilbo! Bilbo, look at me! Come on just a peak! It'll be fun! Bilbo! No one will know!"

As you may have already have guessed, Sting was a true embodiment of Bilbo's Tookish side.

"Enough! Not one more word about it or I'll make us go and have tea with Old Took," Bilbo warned dangerously as Sting shifted into a brown rabbit, landing heavily on top of the display cabinet and nearly knocking off some of his mother's best china which was over 100 years old.

"But it's on my mind, it's all I can think of," Sting whined sadly, his long rabbit ears drooping pathetically and his big black eyes quivering. Bilbo sighed, immediately regretting his angry words and opened his arms for Sting to leap into.

"I am sorry my love, I didn't mean to be horrid," Bilbo hummed soothingly as he brushed the soft fur of Sting's ears, enjoying the close feel of his daemon. "Is it really distressing you that much?" Bilbo asked already knowing the answer.

"You know it is, silly Hobbit," Sting retorted indignantly, his voice muffled by Bilbo's chest.

Bilbo sighed – _what wouldn't you do for your daemon._

"Fine, but second breakfast first." And so it was that after they ate the carrot cake that Bilbo had made that morning and shared two cups of tea, Sting and Bilbo stood and stared at the small crumpled package that lay at the bottom of the emptied storage chest.

"You open it," Sting prompted, shifting into the shape of a robin and fluttering to Bilbo's head, nestling within his curls.

"No, you're the one who wanted it opened. You open it!" Bilbo snapped sheepishly.

"I don't have hands,"

"Lucky coincidence,"

Gingerly, Bilbo knelt in front of the box and picked up the wrapped object and set it down on the bed. His fingers hovered for a moment before he began plucking gingerly at the filthy fabric. Layer by layer, strip by strip the fabric came away until all that was left was the curious object underneath.

It looked like a golden clock, shiny and beautiful, the sunlight played off its brilliant metal skin and seemed to dance off its glass face. But under its glass face, where there should have been numbers, there were pictures, dozens of pictures. Next to the pictures were three hands which appeared to be controlled by the small knobs on top of the glass face.

"What is it?" Sting asked, landing next to Bilbo as a tom cat.

"I don't know Sting, I haven't a clue," Bilbo breathed as he scooped it up off the bed and examined it more closely. He tested the knobs, turning them with his thumb and forefinger and studying the pictures. "The pictures obliviously symbolise something, like this one, the candle, that's probably-"

"I can't see it," Sting whined as his cat eyes struggled to make out the tiny picture. So Bilbo twisted the dial until it pointed at the picture.

"That's probably for understanding, you know light of wisdom in the darkness and all that," Bilbo said excitedly, his dynamic brain and Tookish curiosity was instantly caught by the curious trinket cupped in his hands. "The moon is probably mystery because of the dark side of the moon," again Bilbo twisted the dial so Sting could see before turning to the next dial which was positioned on a sun symbol.

"But what is it!?" Sting asked desperately, his Tookish side burning terribly bright, when suddenly the arms and hands began to move and whirl on their own.

Sting called to Bilbo but he never heard him. Images and voices from centuries passed were dancing around Bilbo's mind in a dizzying array of sound and colour. Then, all settled into a queer clarity.

"It's an Alethiometer, Sting." Bilbo heard himself say.

The next few minutes were a bit of a blur for Bilbo. He barely remembered Sting turning into a sheepdog and dragging him by his bracers outside, pushing him on to his bench and bringing him his father's pipe. In a daze, he felt Sting drop his pouch of Old Toby onto his lap and wrap himself protectively around Bilbo's shoulders in the form of a cat.

After several long puffs and a smoke ring, Bilbo spoke.

"That was... " Bilbo stammered and having another puff to calm his nerves.

"I don't think I like that, I didn't like it at all," Sting said unhappily, burying his face against Bilbo's neck. Reaching up and soothing his fingers down Sting's tense spine, Bilbo blew another smoke ring.

"Whoever sent it knows what it does. It must be very very valuable and sought after, so I suggest we put it away and forget we ever looked at it, until someone comes to collect it. Agreed?"

As much as Bilbo hated the thought of having the Alethiometer in his home, it would be worse to throw it out in case whoever sent it came looking for it. Play dumb, give it away as soon as you can and no one will get hurt.

Or so the plan went. But as plans usually do, it didn't pan out that way. For as Sting agreed, a lonely figure wearing a tall grey hat and long robes was marching up the road towards BagEnd; and more importantly towards Bilbo and Sting.


	3. A curious coincidence

List of Daemons

Thror - _Inachis io_ - peacock- Icarni

Thrain- Picidae- woodpecker- Salix

Gandalf- Diomedeidae- albatross- Radalyn

Thorin- Unsettled- Lifthrasir/ lif

Bilbo- Unsettled- Sting {male}

Oin - Hyla arborea- Tree frog – Duke {male}

Gloin- _Canis lupus familiaris-_ Boxer dog- Gurda

Nori- Pica pica- Magpie – furtum

Dori - Felis catus- Persian cat- Ambrosia

Ori-Vulpes zerda - Fenic fox- Baeflure

Bifur- Pteropodidae- Fruit bat- Stix

Bofur- Sciur vulgaris- red squirrel- Hesselay

Bombur- Anas platyrhynchos- mallard duck – Bek

Balin- Tyto alba- Barn owl- Alvis

Dwalin- Canis lupus familiaris- Tibetan Mastiff- Gemablax/Gem

Dis- Canis Lupus familiaris- Springer spaniel- Orion

Kili- Vulpes vulpes- Black fox- Rafarfrod/Rafa

Fili – Canis Lupus familiaris- Golden retriever- Skianfaxi/skian

A curious coincidence

"Can I...can I help you?" Bilbo stammered his nose still stinging slightly from the sudden inhalation of tobacco smoke.

The tall imposing figure leaned on Bilbo's fence and peered at him from under his bedraggled hat and bushy white eyebrows. "That remains to be seen," the grey man mumbled, chewing the side if his mouth with bemusing contemplation.

Without waiting for an invitation, the old man pushed the gate aside and marched towards Bilbo's door.

"Hey, hello, excuse me-," Bilbo spluttered as he half fell half ran to stop the stranger pushing through his front door. Sting leapt into the form of a Shetland pony and braced himself against the door, blocking the grey man's path and shoot the stranger with a defiantly stubborn glare. "Can I help you?" Bilbo asked indignantly as he skidded to a halt, almost toppling back onto Sting.

"Did you get my package?" the stranger asked brusquely, leaning heavily on his tall wooden staff and arching a grey bushing eyebrow.

"The Alethiometer- OW!" Bilbo gasped before he could stop himself and was rewarded with Sting sinking his horse teeth into Bilbo's calf.

"Bilbo Baggins...," Gandalf, as we know him though at the time Bilbo did not, smirked proudly as a knowing smile pulled his wrinkles into a tight smile.

If you didn't already know, Hobbits were truly amazing creatures, Gandalf certainly thought so. Brave, courageous and thanks to an odd quirk of Elvin blood that ran through their Took heritage, some even had the very rare ability to master the mysterious powers of the alethiometer. A gift that even Gandalf had never truly conquered.

"How do you know my...No, no. No! No package was delivered here, you must be mistaken. Try Bree or better still on the other side of the Water. Yes, right well...Good morning!" Bilbo floundered flustered before all but slamming the door shut with a resounding bang!

It took a good minute of leaning against the back of the door before Sting {now in the form of a terrier} placed a calming paw against Bilbo's leg and tried to reassure his Hobbit.

"Wizards," Sting snorted derisively- for undoubtedly the stranger had been a wizard due to his pointy hat and dirty cloak. "They are odd folk. We shall have nothing to do with them, my love!" the daemon declared boldly, wiggling his nose and wagging his tail in a haughtily manner that remained Bilbo of his Father's daemon.

Trailing his fingers through Sting's soft fur, Bilbo pushed away from the door and gave his daemon his most reassuring smile. It was on odd act to be sure, for daemons have a direct line to their Hobbits {or men or dwarf's} thoughts and feelings, but Bilbo still always tried to protect Sting from the whirl of emotions that were running through him at that moment in time.

Sting shifted from paw to paw as he became agitated by Bilbo's anxious mood. "Bilbo, let us have cake!" Sting barked and began to nudge Bilbo towards the kitchen where a honey cake lay on the counter.

At the promise of food Bilbo perked up instantly, although the dim shadow sat over him slightly for the rest of the day. "Yes, cake indeed, for it is almost time for high tea."

And so they had cake and almost forgot about the mornings strange events, instead taking comfort in the honey cake and the closeness that one another provided. So much so that neither, daemon or Hobbit, heard the distant scratches on the door or the markings being carved into Bilbo's freshly painted woodwork.

But more importantly, it wasn't until six o'clock, just before Bilbo and Sting were about to start cooking supper that Hamfast Gamgee would knock at their door and inform them that there was a giant grey albatross sat napping on his letter box, and that said albatross had stopped and asked Katwiyth {Lobelia Sackville Baggins' daemon} directions to BagEnd.

*0*

"You shouldn't have so many potatoes, you're going to get fat," Sting called from his perch on the sill on the kitchen window. The daemon had officially put himself on Albatross Watch while Bilbo ate his supper.

"Hobbits are supposed to be round and besides-," Bilbo paused to squeeze a lemon over his fried fish, "I don't want to get too good looking." Bilbo quipped and winked at Sting knowingly, before tucking into his supper.

Sting hopped down off his perch and landed on the table as a rabbit, he huddle close to Bilbo's side, his long brown ears tickling under Bilbo's chin and watched his Hobbit sprinkled a little salt on the crinkled skin of the river trout.

It was in those seconds, when Bilbo's first mouthful of juicy fish was inches from his mouth, that there came a low pounding knock at the door which echoed around Bilbo's and Sting's smial.

"I thought you were on Albatross Watch?" Bilbo asked in a frenzied whisper as both he and his daemon peered towards the hallway.

The booming knocks came again, and with a long frustrated sigh, Bilbo gave up the hope of having his supper on time and went to answer the door.

"Do you think its Lobelia again?" Sting asked tentatively, the faint tremor in his voice betraying his fear of the Sackville.

Bilbo raised two fingers and gently brushed the soft fur of Sting's ears to soothe his daemon. "I doubt it," he reassured gently as he pushed back from the table and popped a pair of slippers onto his feet. "More likely this time of night it's Otho."

The pair moved into the hallway and Bilbo began to fumble with his keys.

"Be with you in a second!" he called, searching through the ring of keys until he found the right one.

"I hate Magda, she's so two faced and her eyes give me the willies," Sting grumbled under his breath about Otho's grasshopper daemon. Bilbo smirked as he pulled the front door open and then suddenly let his mouth fall open in horror, a strangled cry escaped Sting's throat.

Bilbo's first thought was WOLF!

Standing on the doormat was the biggest dog that Bilbo had ever seen in his entire life- No, had ever dared imagine. Its shaggy head came to level with Bilbo's face and its drooling jaws could have easily closed around the Hobbit's throat. Dappled black and brown fur stuck up in messy knots but appeared thick and glossy, sticking up in tufts around the beast's great floppy ears. As Bilbo caught a glimpse of shiny white teeth within a the strong pair of powerful jaws encased within a wet red mouth. Bilbo thought the animal was wild and had wondered into Hobbiton from the great wilderness; he started drawing back away from the door in terror, preparing to slam it shut when a grumbling voice came from behind the great dog. With a grunt of effort, the beast was shouldered aside.

This new arrival did not help to settle Bilbo's nerves, not one little bit.

"Dwalin, at your service," the dwarf warrior said in a gruff deep voice that reminded Bilbo rather like a distant rumble of thunder. The dwarf brushed back his travelling cloak and bowed, showing off the two axes strapped to his back as he did so.

Sting wasted no time. Like the true Took that he was, he leaped forwards in the form of a sheepdog, nodded to Bilbo and began to sniff and wag his tail excitedly at the other daemon.

Daemons have a remarkable ability to sense another daemon's aura and as such are very good judges of character; be that as it may, Bilbo still wrapped his rode tighter.

"Bilbo Baggins, at yours," Bilbo began before Sting coughed pointedly, "And this is my daemon Sting."

"An honour to make your fine acquaintance Madam," Sting said delicately, lowering his head and bending down on his knee in a kind of doggy bow. Bilbo was taken aback, he had never seen Sting so...was smitten the right word?

The massive dog actually giggled. A sweet and womanly voice, that happened to remind Bilbo of Belladonna Baggins, came from deep within the great dog's chest as she cocked her head and opened her jaws in a dog's smile. "My pleasure I am sure. My name is Gemablax, at your service young one."

Suddenly, Bilbo was pushed aside and a dusty travelling cape draped over him as Dwalin marched through the door and into the hallway, and without so much as a by your leave, sat down at Bilbo's table and began tucking into his supper!

The Hobbit and his daemon stared in bemusement as the dwarf- Dwalin- sat munching on a fish head and the massive dog resting her head gently on his shoulder.

"Bilbo, have you seen how big she is!? She's the biggest daemon we've ever seen. Not even the men in Bree have dogs as big as her!" Sting exclaimed suddenly, his tail thumping against the wooden doorframe and his claws tapping against the flooring as he skittered about in excitement.

"She is no mere dog, pup! Gem is a Mastiff and a noble member of the Royal Guard of Erebor," Dwalin snapped, skewing the last of Bilbo's roast potatoes off his plate.

The daemon in question made a huffing noise at her Dwarf and padded across the kitchen towards Sting, "and don't you forget it, Master daemon," Gemablax said playfully, snapping at Sting's bushy black tail that swished to and fro. Sting hopped away quickly trying to return the daemon's friendly gesture - it looked something a kin with a squirrel playing with a bear but Sting appeared to be having the time of his life.

Bilbo had had enough. Sting may be having fun with his new fond giant friend but Bilbo wanted his supper, wanted to go to bed and wanted to know what in all Sweet Yvanna this dwarf and his monster were doing in his house!

Just as he was about to open his mouth, there came another knock at the door.

"That'll be the door," Dwalin said gruff, shoving an entire scone in his mouth at once. Bilbo needed no persuading.

It would be Hamfast or Otho, it could even be Lobelia for all Bilbo cared at that moment in time, all come to tell him that this was some bad kind of joke; but pulling open the door, Bilbo found it wasn't.

Another Dwarf.

"Balin, at your service," the grey haired dwarf standing at the top of Bilbo's garden path exclaimed, bowing so low and almost dislodging the snowy barn owl that was perched on the dwarf's shoulder.

Down the hallway, Bilbo heard the great shout of joy, "Alvis!" Deep pounding paws hammered against his wooden flooring, padding and skidding into the hallway, leaving Bilbo barely enough time to flatten himself against the door as Gemablax barrelled passed.

The owl leapt from his dwarf's shoulder only to be caught carefully between Gemablax's paws, the two daemons danced and rolled in Bilbo's front garden, ripping up bits of Bilbo's lawn as they did so.

"Gem! Oh Gem it's been too long!" The owl whooped excitedly and began fluttering about around the dog as Gem jumped on her back legs. It appeared that the Mastiff was mindful of the owl's delicate feathers but not so much about Bilbo's geraniums.

Much like Sting embodied Bilbo's Took side, the two daemons embodied the dwarves more expressive eccentric side, that as Bilbo watched, only showed itself in the dwarves as a rough thwacking head butt.

"Bilbo, remember to breathe," Sting whispered urgently, standing on his hind legs and resting his cold wet nose against Bilbo's neck. Bilbo was on the verge of having a panic attack and Sting knew it. It was brought on when Balin's soaking wet boots left muddy splodges over Bilbo's hallway carpet- the carpet he had spent almost all morning cleaning!

From within the house Bilbo heard a crash and a slosh as ale was splashed over the clean floor tiles of Bilbo's larder. Sting retreated quickly under the kitchen sink as he felt the full surge of Bilbo's temper.

"I am sorry! I am sorry but this will not..." Bilbo began to advance on the pair dwarves, who were eyeing up his prized tomatoes, when a light tickling ringing caught his attention.

 _Ding-a-ling-a- ling_. _Ding-a-ling-a- ling. Ding-a-ling-a- ling..._ Someone was repeatedly tugging his doorbell, it was better than knocking but only just. Bilbo's foot hovered in midair as the doorbell rang again.

We're they trying to pull it off!?

"Don't you dare," Bilbo warned his daemon dangerously as Sting gave him a sheepish smile and dashed to the door. Bilbo was only seconds behind when Sting's teeth closed around the doorknob and dragged it open.

Bilbo nearly skidded into the two dwarves waiting on his doorstep.

"Fili-,"

"Kili-,"

"At your service-," the two dwarves chimed in unison, Bilbo fought not to make a strangled noise of dismay while Sting yipped in merriment.

"No, I'm sorry you can't come in," Bilbo declared, ignoring how Sting whined and made pathetic pleading noises. He was about to shut the door when a strong shoulder shoved the door open and pushed Bilbo backwards into the wall.

Bilbo had to do a double take as at first glance he thought a lion was barging into his house. In actual fact it turned out to be the biggest golden retriever that Bilbo had ever seen, not nearly as big as Gem but certainly massive by Hobbit standards. The retriever held the door open with its broad shoulders and looked up at Bilbo with sparkling black eyes which made her golden coat seem all the brighter, as a small sleek black fox ghosted between its legs and disappeared down the hallway.

"Don't worry, it hasn't been cancelled!" The fox called in a shrill girlish voice, as she peeked her head in the dining room where Bilbo heard the telltale signs of furniture being moved haphazardly.

"Well, thank bloody Aüle for that!" the golden retriever exclaimed, her voice surprisingly hoarse and smoky for a female daemon and she shoved the door fully open, squishing Bilbo flat against the wall.

"Skainfaxi! Look what you have done to , that is no way to treat our host!" The dark dwarf chastised the golden retriever, but as Bilbo was tugged out from behind the door, he noticed a cheeky grin the young dwarf shot his brother.

"Oops! Didn't see you there Halfling!" Skianfaxi called over her shoulder unconvincingly, flicking her tail in the air and swishing it behind her as she followed the black fox towards the noises.

Sting leaped onto Bilbo's shoulder and whispered low in his ear before disappearing into the smial but Bilbo didn't hear what his daemon had said for the blonde dwarf was watching Sting closely, every slight movement followed by those pale furrowed brows. But as quickly as Bilbo noticed, the dwarf's brother marched forward and blocked Bilbo's view.

"Don' pay her any mind. She's not use' to gentle folk. 'Ere grab these would ya'," The dark haired dwarf- Kili- said lightly, dumping his heavy bow and quiver into Bilbo's arms.

"Oi! She's proud, that's all. Nothing wrong with havin' standards! Least Skian talks to people," Fili suddenly snapped at his brother as he too shoved his swords and sword belt into Bilbo's arms which began to sag dangerously under the heavy weight.

"Rafa talks to me," Kili said defensively, wiping his muddy boots on Belladonna's glory box: Bilbo was beginning to feel a little faint.

"Well, she would, she is your daemon after all-," Fili began to say with a smirk playing on his lips when Kili let out a shout that almost burst Bilbo's ear drum.

"Mr. Dwalin!"

"Come here lad! We need to make room if want to fit all the Company in," the warrior dwarf called from the dining room and the two brothers dashed to help leaving Bilbo standing alone by the open door, with a great pile of weapons in his hands and a whole load of mud walked into his carpet.

He had a terrible feeling it was going to be an awful long night.

*0*

Bilbo's whole evening had been very odd, very odd indeed, not only by Hobbit standards but by any normal person's standards.

For not long after the two dwarf brothers had pushed themselves through Bilbo's front door and began dragging his dining table about, had there been another loud knock at the door.

This time the bell was only rung once but once was enough for Bilbo to lose what little remained of his quiet Hobbit temper.

"If this is some idiot's idea of a joke, I find it in very **very** poor taste!" Bilbo cried as he pulled his front door open for the third time that evening.

In cascaded a pile of wriggling dwarves who shouted and swore and fought with each other as they all tried to get to their feet at once. Their daemons watched from Bilbo's front garden with varying degrees of amusement and embarrassment. But the barked grunts of dwarfish profanity were not what caught Bilbo's attention.

Stood in front of the group of daemons was the albatross that had been asleep on his post box for most of the evening. The giant grey bird stretched out its long neck and ruffled its feathers, shaking out its massive wings and sending a cool gust of wind right into Bilbo's chest.

"Mr Baggins, we meet again," the bird remarked in a low lilting female voice and appeared to smirk- if that's what the slight twist of the albatross' beak could be described as.

"I'm sorry, do we know each other?" Bilbo asked the bird incredously, almost stumbling over as a dwarf with an axe embedded in his skull who used Bilbo's arm to pull himself up. From behind Bilbo there was an excited squeak and Sting hopped to Bilbo's side, in the form of a rabbit, and brushed his soft muzzle against Bilbo's fingers.

Bilbo pulled his hand away and shot his daemon a look of betrayal, Sting could play cute now but when all this...Mess! was cleaned up Bilbo and him would have a serious talk about self control and propriety.

"Do we know each other! Well, cursed dust, to think Belladonna Took's son would ask that of me! I am Radalyn and Radalyn is...well, me," the albatross laughed with mirth, fluttering over to stand in front of Bilbo, her sleek head coming level with Bilbo's shoulders.

"Radalyn? Not Gandalf's Radalyn?" Sting asked excitedly, leaping into the air in the form of a robin and flapping manically around Radalyn's head.

"Gandalf is mine as much as I am his, we are one in the same as much as you and Bilbo are. Though as a Witch daemon I may travel as I wish, we are still one spirit connected," Radalyn explained to the excitable daemon and then turned her beak towards Bilbo, who was still staring dumbstruck as distant long forgotten childhood memories whizzed around his head. "Bilbo, you were a child last I saw you. You have changed and yet-," the bird flicked her dark avian eyes towards Sting who was now looking towards the dozens of daemons who were flying, hopping, waddling and scurrying into the living room. "- and yet much remains the same."

Bilbo almost winced as he knew Radalyn was referring to his daemon not settling yet.

"I...Gandalf was the stranger from this morning? Forgive me, it has been so long that, well, I thought you'd be-," Bilbo stammered, growing uncomfortable under the witch daemons steady stare.

"You thought we'd be dead, oh no, far from it!" Radalyn let out a long loud warming laugh that seemed almost to fill the smial. With one powerful gust of her broad wings the daemon took to the air and glided down Bilbo's hallway and into the dining room where all the dwarves were now sat.

"Bilbo..." Sting whispered tentatively and he landed on Bilbo's shoulder and buried his beak in the Hobbit's curls. "Don't be mad with me. Please don't be mad." Sting breathed in a fragile voice that made all of Bilbo's anger drain away into his feet.

Closing the door, Bilbo absently stroked Sting's soft tail feathers and tried to steady his nerves.

"My love, how could I stay mad at you? Just...Look what they are doing to my pantry!" Bilbo cried in dismay, literally grabbing handfuls of his hair in desperation as he watched an entire menagerie of daemons dragging the entire contents of his larder across the hallway carpet and into the dining room.

At any other moment Bilbo may have even found it amusing to watch a Mallard duck try and single headedly- or beakedly- drag an entire block of cheese, or a fruit bat darting to a fro carrying away Bilbo's tomatoes, followed by a magpie carrying grapes. A red squirrel ran along the walls somehow managing to carry a loaf in its mouth while a fluffy white cat rolled around with a teapot in its paws. The golden retriever and black fox- Skianfaxi and Rafa- darted down the hallway hurrying after a barrel of ale that was rolling away and a fenic fox sat on top Bilbo's grandfather clock nibbling the corner of a cracker.

"Don't! You'll break that!" Bilbo cried suddenly, snapping out of his almost catatonic frame of mind as the red squirrel daemon whipped its bushy tail about and almost knocked Aunt Periwinkle's wedding plate off its shelf.

"Ew, do you hear that Hesselay, we'll break it!" A merry faced dwarf chuckled as his squirrel daemon landed nimbly on the ear flaps of his hat.

"Oh no! A plate! A plate, whatever shall we do Bofur?" Hesseley shrieked melodramatically, pretending to faint and dangled her red tail over the rim of Bofur's hat. The other dwarves laughed heartily as they and their daemons all seated themselves around Bilbo's table and began to scoff the entire contents of Bilbo's pantry.

The Hobbit glanced at the empty shelves of his larder cupboard and them stared into his destroyed dining room, trying to make sense of the impossible set of stupid events that had led up to this moment in time.

For at that point in the evening he had twelve dwarves crammed around his table and lining the walls was; a red boxer grabbing bits of ham from a redheaded dwarf's hand, a tree frog sat on his dwarf's ear horn, a magpie and fruit bat playing "fly through the smoke ring", a white Persian cat lapping red wine from one of his best crystal glasses, a duck sat on the swag of his fat dwarf's beard, a squirrel sat on a hat, a miniature desert fox lapped daintily at a mug of ale and a retriever and fox playing "lets rip holes in Bilbo's carpet"; while above them all sat Radalyn watching the whole damn thing from the chandler.

 _This must be what going insane is like_ , Bilbo thought airily as his knees buckled.

"Bilbo...Bilbo!" Bilbo heard Sting shout his name as the dining room floor came up to meet him.

*0*

"Bilbo! Oh Bilbo, Bilbo I was so worried! Don't ever do that to me again, do you hear? Or...Or I don't know what I'll do without you. I was scared and alone, Bilbo Baggins..." Sting repeated over and over again as he licked and sniffed at Bilbo's face with his cold dog nose.

Somehow Bilbo found himself propped up in his father's armchair next to the fire in his living room, his feet were resting on Sting's cat stool and his legs were covered over with one of Belladonna's crotched blankets. Bilbo would have been perfectly happy to stay right where he was and nap for the rest of the evening and he would of too, if it hadn't have been for the albatross that sat watching from mantelpiece.

"Oh my dear boy, what happened to the Hobbit who wanted nothing more than to have a good adventure? Where is the young Hobbit who ran away to join a crew of pirates or the Hobbit who wanted to meet the elf king?" Radalyn mused, digging her sharp talons into Bilbo's mahogany mantelpiece and stretching her elegant neck down towards Bilbo.

"He grew up," Bilbo stated coldly as he gently sat up straighter in the chair and took Sting in his arms, cradling the slightly trembling rabbit- for Sting had changed into something smaller- to his chest.

Radalyn leapt off the mantelpiece and nimbly landed on the overstuffed arm of the chair next to Bilbo. "But he didn't though, did he?" the daemon said coolly, titling her head with a severe and birdlike twitch of her neck so that she caught Bilbo's eyes. "Bilbo Baggins, you are small and still young and are destined to remain so if you don't walk this world."

"You speak in riddles-," Bilbo snapped.

"I always speak in riddles; it's what witches and wizards do!" Radalyn retorted with an angry ruffle of her grey feathers. "Now listen and listen close, for unlike Gandalf, I shall not mince my words. Witches, like daemons, can see aura's but more importantly a person's aura. And yours is pale, almost white in your need-,"

"I don't want for anything, I have my home and my-," Bilbo said, trying to defend himself against the fierce daemon.

"Not you, you are substance and not made of golden particles. Change your ways or you will diminish and all you love most shall disappear in a puff of dust. Heed me Bilbo Baggins, even if it is the last thing you do. Heed me and listen to your heart," Radalyn finished her prophecy with a shake of her head and a vicious snap of her beak. With a powerful beat of her wings, she rose into the air and let out a eerie cry which echoed around Bilbo's head and silencing the rowdy party of dwarves in the others room; she circled the ceiling- once- twice- and then disappeared through an open window and out into the night's sky, morphing into another ghost in the great blackness.

"What in all Middle Earth was that about?" Sting asked shakily, his little nose twitching as he tried to free himself from Bilbo's tight embrace.

"Quick!" Oin bellowed, suddenly appearing out of nowhere and pulling Bilbo to his feet, ignoring Sting's disgruntled grumbled as the daemon tumbled to the floor. The old dwarf threw an amulet over the Hobbit's neck and began humming a thick language that Bilbo didn't understand under his breath while his frog daemon waved his webbed hands to and fro.

"What are they doing?" Bilbo whispered to a dwarf with a magpie daemon resting on his shoulder. Nori, as Bilbo would later discover he name was, watched from afar as Oin gave Bilbo a blessing in Khuzdul to protect him from a Witch's curse.

"It's terrible bad luck Mister Baggins to be on the wrong side of a Witch, old Oin and Duke ere' is just making sure she's sent no ill will down on ya'," Nori explained as he cleaned the end of his pipe and began filling the bowl full of tobacco he'd picked up on the road.

"Oh please...um, Master Oin was it, could you just-," Bilbo stammered awkwardly as he tried to get passed Oin.

"Oin, I think he's blessed enough. Come and sit with me and Gloin," a boxer dog shouted from the hallway at the old dwarf. Oin and Duke looked up from their chanting and nodded.

"Aye' you be right Gurda," Oin replied, signing one more time and moving away down the hall. The healer passed Nori in the doorway and giving the other dwarf a pat on the arm as he passed by.

Cynically eyeing the amulet and placing it down on the stool by his feet, Bilbo glanced up to find both Nori and his magpie daemon watching him closely.

"Oh, don't mind us. Me and Furtum was just thinking about what a nice house you have here," Nori said lightly, shooting Bilbo a dashing smile that would have sent any other Hobbit or dwarf for that matter reeling. But then again Bilbo wasn't just any Hobbit.

I suppose I should take this time to tell you- if you didn't already know or need reminding- that once a daemon settles form, that form represents qualities that their barer upholds. Daemonolgy or the study of daemons had been going on since the days of the Eldar but after the terrible War of the Ring, Daemonolgy had mostly fallen out of common knowledge. Though Bilbo was a very clever Hobbit, his access to books on the subject- a subject in which he was most interested- was very limited. He knew of certain qualities and attributes of some Daemonic forms such as most canine breeds were loyal and brave, but needless to say, magpie's are light feathered and have a certain liking for shiny objects; which was why Bilbo's spine suddenly tensed and he struggled to suppress the urge to look in Nori's pockets.

"But it seems a bit strange for a nice fella' like you not to have found your One Touch-," Nori commented, staring intently down into the bowl of his pipe as he watched the cherry burn. Nori had wandered into very dangerous and very tetchy ground but lucky enough for Nori, it was at that moment, as Bilbo stood on the apex of the hallway, that three loud knocks rang through the house.

This knocking was different, hallowed somehow and sacred; a dozen heads poked out of the kitchen, hair standing up on end and tension palpable in the air. The knocks came again, Nori shoved Bilbo and Sting towards the doorway as the starfish haired dwarf went to stand/ hide behind his brothers.

"I am not opening this door anymore this evening," Bilbo grumbled under his breath as, for the final time that night, the Hobbit's hand closed around the brass doorknob of his smial. He struggled for a moment, juggling Sting in his arms, twisted the brass handle and let the door creak open.


	4. Thorin enters

Hello again! Sorry it has taken me so long to post my job is killing me at the moment. Please review and tell me what you think!

Daemons 

Thror - _Inachis io_ - peacock- Icarni

Thrain- Picidae- woodpecker- Salix

Gandalf- Diomedeidae- albatross- Radalyn

Thorin- Unsettled- Lifthrasir/ lif

Bilbo- Unsettled- Sting {male}

Oin - Hyla arborea- Tree frog – Duke {male}

Gloin- _Canis lupus familiaris-_ Boxer dog- Gurda

Nori- Pica pica- Magpie – furtum

Dori - Felis catus- Persian cat- Ambrosia

Ori-Vulpes zerda - Fenic fox- Baeflure

Bifur- Pteropodidae- Fruit bat- Stix

Bofur- Sciur vulgaris- red squirrel- Hesselay

Bombur- Anas platyrhynchos- mallard duck – Bek

Balin- Tyto alba- Barn owl- Alvis

Dwalin- Canis lupus familiaris- Tibetan Mastiff- Gemablax/Gem

Dis- Canis Lupus familiaris- Springer spaniel- Orion

Kili- Vulpes vulpes- Black fox- Rafarfrod/Rafa

Fili – Canis Lupus familiaris- Golden retriever- Skianfaxi/skian

Thorin

"Lif...I-," Thorin began apprehensively as he and his daemon stood on the road outside BagEnd looking up at the illuminated windows of the small burrow.

"We're doing the right thing and it's the only thing that we can do. Now, let's go and whip this rabble into shape," Lifthrasir reassured gently before growling and showing her pearly white teeth; trailing her thick snow leopard tail up Thorin's leg and against the back of his knuckles.

Thorin smiled down at his daemon and sucking in one long steadying breath before pushing open the small creaking gate and ascending the steps towards the round wooden door. Lifthrasir leaped ahead of him with an easy spring in her Ibex form.

Gandalf's rune shone out of the forest green paint work almost mocking- A burglar Hobbit- really? Gandalf must be going senile in his old age. But then again the wizard had been most adamant when Thorin had met him in the Prancing Pony. Even with a few too many ales down him, Gandalf had been certain that the thirteenth member of the Company should be a Hobbit.

Even through the thick oak door, Thorin could hear the raucous laughter spilling from his nephews and loud exclamations from his friend Bofur, Thorin could even hear the odd comment from Dwalin, heartily seconded by Gem. Thorin shock his head and shot Lif a withering look, berating himself for letting the Company be lulled by the Hobbit's famous hospitality.

His dragged the door knocker down with unnecessary force and turned to take one last look down the road. After making sure he had not been followed, Thorin turned towards the low creak that the door made, and then stopped dead in his tracks, staring across the seemingly massive expanse of doorway and right into the eyes of his Burglar Hobbit.

*0*

In one clean swift movement, Bilbo seemed to forget all the etiquette and rules of courtesy that he had been taught as a tween, and instead openly gawked at the Dwarf standing on his doorstep.

This dwarf was different...No, I can't really call him different although he was. For Bilbo, staring into those deep blue eyes, it was like walking on melting ice above a lake; you knew it would crack but you couldn't resist seeing of it would take your weight.

Someone coughed loudly clearing their throat and Bilbo, shaking himself a little, looked down to see a large black mountain goat. An Ibex, a voice in the back of Bilbo's mind supplied for him helpfully. The daemon's dangerously looking horns came to Bilbo's shoulder, thick muscular shoulders and strong thighs covered in glossy black fur gave the Ibex a powerful air which matched her and her dwarf.

"Master Baggins, my name is Lifthrasir, daemon of Erebor. And this is my bearer, Thorin son of Thrain, heir to the throne of Erebor. We are at your service," the daemon said in a slow authoritative voice that showed her royal status and unyielding leadership.

When Bilbo opened his mouth no words decided to come out but without a moments hesitation, Sting wriggled out of Bilbo's arms and fell to the floor with a delicate hop. He stood on his back legs and tweaked his whiskers a little as he spoke. "I am Sting of BagEnd. This is my bearer, Bilbo Baggins, gentle Hobbit of the Shire and we are graciously at yours." At first the daemon spoke tentatively and carefully but his confidence did Bilbo's Took blood proud in the end as Sting and Lifthrasir did a very surprising thing.

Brushing past their bearers, Lifthrasir and Sting closed the gap between them, Sting had to rest both of his paws against the top Lifthrasir's nose as the two daemons pressed their foreheads together.

As the two daemons touched, Thorin and Bilbo felt a slight tingle at the nape of their necks but were too busy glaring at their daemons to recognise it.

When two daemons touched it was not in the same way as a One Touch or a Settling Love would touch; no, when two daemons touched it did not have the same meaning or eternal bounding the One Touch had but it was still highly irregular. Especially for Sting and Lifthrasir, as both daemons were infamous amongst their kin for their love of personal space, to touch on first meeting was...well, to put it in simple terms, it would be like meeting someone in the street and rubbing your face over theirs. The only normal situation for two daemons to touch would be if they had met before, they were kin or they were betrothed. And as Bilbo and Thorin were neither of these things, the Hobbit and Dwarf were both horrified by their daemon's behaviour.

"Sting!" Bilbo snapped harshly as his daemon drew away but suddenly the nights upheaval, the empty pantry, the dirty carpet, all Baggins stuffiness all seemed to round on the dwarf at the door. Bilbo's thinking was, apart from his daemon's terrible behaviour, that this dwarf was important and therefore it was his fault.

"Mister Oakenshield, please to meet you but would you like to explain to me why I have dwarves running wild around my house!" Bilbo snapped hysterically, his words grinding out through his teeth as his fists clenched at this side.

The dwarf made an impatient noise and easily brushed Bilbo aside with one powerful sweep of his arm. "So, you are the burglar. I doubt you have done much fighting in your time Master Baggins but it's clear you won't stoop to attacking guest at the door," Thorin replied in a haughty tone, not bothering to meet Bilbo's eye as he hung his coat up on the last empty peg behind the door.

"Wait just one cotton pickin-," Bilbo began angrily when their came a raucous up roar from inside the smial.

"Uncle!"

"Thorin!"

"Sire! His majesty has arrived!" A dozen shouts seemed to fill the air at once and for a second all the dwarves who had invaded Bilbo's house converged in his hallway in a mad melee of dwarf, daemon and Hobbit who was crushed up against the wall.

"Come, we saved you some soup and I think Dwalin left you a biscuit or two," a cheery voice called, Gloin, Bilbo thought. And without any warning, Bilbo spilled on the floor and was left to watch the receding footsteps upside down as the Dwarves once again disappeared into his dining room.

*0*

 _The nerve of dwarfs! How dare he! How dare he just waltz into his house- his family home- and insult him! Dwarfs! He had never met anyone with such a blatant disrespect for basic rules of hospitably and …and he'd trodden yet MORE mud into the carpet. If Thorin Prince of Sarcasm thought he could just wink those brilliant blue eyes and make Bilbo swoon, well he had another thing coming….._

 _It was needless to say that Bilbo was angry._

 _Actually by Hobbit standards Bilbo was more than angry, he was… furious. If Sting hadn't almost physically dragged Bilbo away, he was had punched Thorin right in his famous mocking face! Royalty be dammed, Bilbo wouldn't stand for his honour to be impeached._

 _What would his mother have said… and his father!_

 _As a tween, Bilbo remembered when Old Took had joked that Bungo's prize winning tomatoes had been magicked rather than grown, even as a joke it had almost led to a family feud._

 _ **The nerve of that haughty, pompous, arrogant…**_

 _"_ _Mister Baggins, do you know you've been cleaned that plate four times already?_ _ **"**_ _The blonde haired dwarf asked casually, arching he eyebrow and given Bilbo an amused look._

 _Bilbo looked up startled, unaware that he had been taking his frustration out on the crockery. "I'm what? …Oh," Bilbo gasped as Fili tugged the plate out of his hands and easily reached up and placed it on the top shelf with the others. Bilbo shook his head at the carelessness, the thoughtlessness for his house his belongings and his plumbing._

 _Once again Bilbo felt his knees turn to jelly, he half sat half stumbled into a chair and reached for his tobacco pouch as he tried to stave off the tremble of his fingers. Suddenly it was if all the anxiety, the stress and the worry was laid bare on Bilbo's face and it sat heavily on his shoulders like an anvil. His chest deflated and he slumped in his chair as if the fight had gone out of him._

 _Sensing his bearer's weariness; Sting gently laid across Bilbo's feet and let his long rabbit ears brush against the tops of Bilbo's knees as he nuzzled the crook of his ankle._

 _"_ _Mister Boggins, what ails?" Kili asked after noticing the sudden change in Bilbo. Brushing his dark fringe out of his eyes, Kili peered at the Hobbit._

 _Bilbo cupped his face in his hands for a moment and Sting leaned up to gently lick Bilbo's knee in a reassuring gesture. Scrubbing at the hot flush off his face, Bilbo turned to the two dwarfs who stood staring down at him as concern making their faces hard._

 _"_ _I just want to know what you're all doing in my house? But no one will tell me," Bilbo said mournfully, wincing slightly when Bombur's duck daemon Bek knocked a saucepan off the draining board._

 _The brothers exchanged a flabbergasted look before Fili rounded on Bilbo and grabbed the Hobbit's shoulders. "You mean you don't know! Why didn't you just say, I thought Gandalf or Radalyn would have told you?!" Fili shouted before dragging Bilbo to his feet and hauling him to the dining room._

 _Bilbo's toes could barely touch the floor as Fili grabbed him by the braces and dragged him through the smial, with Sting and Kili eagerly following behind._

 _The Company and their daemons had congregated around Bilbo's dining table. It was cramped with all the dwarves hunched in Hobbit sized chairs; the larger daemons like Gem and Gloin's boxer dog daemon Gurda had to lie under the table, smaller daemons like Ori's fennec fox Baeflure easily scurried on top of the table, flying and climbing daemons like Bifur's fruit bat Stix and Bofur's red squirrel Hesslay were relegated to scrambling over the chandler._

 _Fili was actually quite glad that Skian and Rafa preferred the company of each other and were currently ripping apart Bilbo's linen cupboard._

 _"_ _Watch it!" Dwalin grumbled as Fili and Bilbo barged passed, making him slop ale over his leather jerkin, as they pushed through the crowd of dwarves. After a hastily whispered argument and many complaints from Ori, Fili pushed Bilbo into a newly vacated seat between Nori and Dori, and turned to look down the table._

 _Sting cautiously eyed Dori's Persian cat daemon Ambrosia with distaste before turning into a sheepdog and resting his head on Bilbo's knee in an attempt to hearten his exhausted Hobbit. ._

 _"_ _Uncle-," Fili said loudly, trying to politely interrupt the close conversation that Thorin and Balin were sharing. Their heads were close together; Bilbo's soup lay almost forgotten on the table as the two dwarfs spoke under their breath._

 _"_ _Uncle Thorin, Bilbo-," Fili tried again to little affect, he attempted to make his way to Thorin's side but they was just too many daemons and dwarfs. Fili sighed with exasperation and looked at his brother for help._

 _The youngest dwarf had been stood in the doorway watching the amusement as Fili took charge of the Hobbit. Fili was so much like Skianfaxi, although he claimed he wasn't. Fili's golden retriever daemon was haughty and regal and very very proper, all the things Fili very rarely was. But when Fili saw someone was suffering, he jumped into his role as easily as Thorin did._

 _Kili smiled and nodded at his brother, before reaching forward and tapping Thorin on the shoulder. "Uncle-," Kili began tentatively._

 _""_ _What! In Durin's name, can I not have a moments peace from your prattling!?" Thorin snapped harshly as his head snapped around and he glared crossly at Kili._

 _Silence fell over the room and the merry party atmosphere died as Thorin's angry words echoed around the house. Even Balin and Alvis looked surprised at the princes' outburst. Lifthrasir jabbed at Thorin with her horns before going to apologise to Kili's black fox daemon Rafafrod._

 _Tentatively, Kili cleared his throat and pointed to Fili who was resting against the fireplace and watching over a very tired and very bedraggled Hobbit._

 _All eyes turned expectantly to Fili, the young dwarf straightened and swallowed. "It's Mr Bilbo see, the Hobbit doesn't know what's happening or why we're here. I just thought it was impolite and unbefitting the line of Durin to trespass on someone's hospitality," Fili said sternly, faltering under Thorin's disconcerting eyes but as Fili looked down at Bilbo he seemed to gain a conviction he didn't know he had._

 _"_ _You mean to say that no one told you lad? Not even the wizard?" Bombur asked aghast, taking Bilbo shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze._

 _Bilbo turned and blinked at Bombur and then at the entire room, his mind was dazed and sleepy as if waking up from a long and troubled sleep. He slowly sat up straighter in his chair and reached down to stroke Sting under his chin._

 _"_ _It had been many years since we had last seen Gandalf, in truth we did not recognise him and I suppose before he could tell me I…" Bilbo's mouth snapped shut as he remembered the events of this morning. It seemed like years since he had sat on his garden bench and soaked in the sun with a pipe of Old Toby. "I shut the door in his face."_

 _The room filled with laughter and Bilbo was unceremoniously slapped on the back by several of the dwarves. An easy silence fell when Thorin stood and braced himself against the table, fixing his unyielding stare on Bilbo._

 _"_ _Even though many in this room still do not know the particulars of our meeting, do you mean to tell me that Gandalf and Radalyn gave you no knowledge of the events that would follow or your involvement?" Thorin ground out through his teeth, frustration palpable in his dark tone and the tightness of his shoulders._

 _Bilbo nodded silently as Sting leapt into the air and settled around his neck as a ginger tomcat._

 _Thorin made a noise of frustration, thoughtfully dragging a hand through his coarse beard, he paused a moment before reaching into his royal blue tunic and pulling out a worn piece of parchment. Tossing it on the table and turning back the corners for all the Company to see. Thorin stood, he knuckles clenched behind his back and his chest puffed out._

 _"_ _Since you know little of the world outside the Shire, Hobbit, you should be told the events many years ago which culminated in our meeting here tonight," Thorin stated callously, his lips pulling into a small sneer._

 _Bilbo felt Sting's heckles raise and his breathing cease as the cat bared its fangs of the dwarf. Thorin was too busy looking at his own daemon to notice, so Bilbo placed a calming hand on Sting's neck and quietened his daemon._

 _Some people were rude and brutish and had no concept of manners or others feelings, and one of those people was evidently Thorin._ _ **The sanctimonious, arrogant, insufferable …**_

 _"_ _Many years ago, before your race had settled here in the Shire, there was a place of great power. A kingdom far to the east, where it was rumoured that one could speak with the gods and where golden dust filled the air as light danced on a full moon," Thorin began slowly, as if recited an old bedtime story. His voice was deep and lilting, it rumbled through the silence of the room and lulled Bilbo deeper into his drowsiness- so much so that Sting had to nip the back of his neck to keep him awake._

 _"_ _A mountain range of great power and legend, so powerful that some with the right knowledge could pass through to other worlds," Ori gasped excitedly and Bilbo looked round thinking it was some kind of joke. It wasn't._

 _"_ _From my father to my Grandfather, we have searched long and hard for this kingdom, the birthplace of the dwarves. And finally, it has come to me, to us, to take back this sacred place." Thorin paused and nodded slowly at the disbelieving and awed expressions of his Company._

 _"_ _My friends, we are going to take back Ered Luin once and for all!" The dwarves erupted in cheers and mugs of Bilbo's finest ale were glugged down by the barrel. Bofur's red squirrel began doing erratic summersaults as her barer downed yet another tankard. Bek waddled down the table and dipped her beak into Bombur's ale._

 _"_ _How did you lose it?" Bilbo whispered in Sting's fluffy ear just as silence fell. The room tensed, Thorin glared at Bilbo over the frothy head of the pint. There was a chilly silence, making Bilbo shift uncomfortably in his seat and Sting let out a low whistle._

 _Balin cleared his throat, absently stroking Alvis's soft white feathers. "Ancient scrolls state that the mountain range was plagued by ghosts and spirits, who converged and consumed our people. With no way to fight them, our ancestors fled and travelled east."_

 _"_ _And this is where you want to go back to, a mountain filled with ghosts?" Sting asked with a smirk making his whiskers curl in amusement. The dwarves shifted with discontent and shuffled like ducks with bristling feathers. Bilbo laid his hand on the back of Sting's neck in a sign of caution: if Bilbo knew anything about dwarves it was that they were not to be mocked._

 _With cold blue eyes fixed on Bilbo, Thorin stepped forwards and raised his fist, waiting until silence. Bilbo excepted fiery anger and mean words but none came, instead from one of the dark corners of the ceiling came a small rustling noise. Hobbits have excellent hearing and vision but even Bilbo had to strain to see the midnight black wings of the fruit bat peel open and glide through the air and down into the his bearer's breast pocket._

 _Nori spoke evenly, stroking his breast pocket absently as he reported to the Company. "Reports are all the same, the mountain stirs and there has been great movement from the north east towards Ered Luin. However the main gate, guard tower and underground tunnels all remain closed or blocked, nothing is getting in or out of that mountain at the moment."_

 _'_ _How would you know that? You've never been past the Misty Mountains," asked Bifur with interest as he leaned back in his chair and lit his long wooden pipe._

 _'_ _Just because I've never been across the Misty Mountains before doesn't mean that I don't have eyes and ears everywhere. I could tell you things about your own mother that would make a whore blush,' Nori smiled devilishly and winked._

 _'_ _Don't you talk about Mama!'_

 _'_ _What did you say!?'_

 _'_ _Hadan!'_ _Shouted the Bifur, Bofur and Bombur in outrage, the brothers jumped to their feet, fists at the ready. Daemons leapt from the table and into the air or under the table to square up to one of the sons of Ri's daemons. Nori pushed back from his chair and stood, staring into Bifur's eyes. Furtum hovering in the air, claws outstretched towards the bat Stix._

 _'_ _Enough!' Thorin bellowed slamming his fist against the table as Lifrasir tossed her horns and stamped her hooves on the wooden floor. Silence fell across the room, all eyes fixed on the tort body and flashing blue eyes of their leader._

 _'_ _We must make stealth and secrecy our ally. Eyes may be looking towards the mountain. We must, at all cost, free our homeland, our birth right and all those poor souls who have been imprisoned…'_

 _'_ _Imprisoned! What do you mean imprisoned?!' Bilbo squeaked suddenly before he could stop himself. Thorin took one long breath before turning toward Bilbo and fixing him with his unyielding blue gaze._


End file.
